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. MESSENGER CALL SYSTEMJFOR BU-ILDINGS. No. 486,282. Patented Nov. 15,1892.

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FRANK H. FULLER, OF SPRINGFIELD, AND CHARLES B. PERKINS, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS; SAID FULLER ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO ELROY F. CROSS, OF WEST SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

MESSENGER-CALL SYSTEM FOR BUILDINGS.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 486,282, dated November 15, 1892.

Application filed April 5, 1892. Serial No. 427,799. (No model.)

To a whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FRANK H. FULLER, residing at Springfield, and CHARLES B. PER- KINS, residing at Holyoke, county of Hampden, State of Massachusetts, citizens of the United States, have invented a new and useful Messenger-Call System for Buildings, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying draw :0 ing, forming part thereof.

Our invention relates to the callboxes placed in buildings for the purpose of trans-; mitting a signal to the central office, with which the call-box is electrically connected, to indicate that the services of a messenger are required at the point from which the call is sent. It has been the custom heretofore, when a building contains several'separate occupants, to place acall-box in the rooms or apartments of each occupant with the two necessary wires running to each box, many large office-buildings having scores of said boxes located upon each of the several floors thereof. This system, besides requiring the 2 5 company which furnishes and owns the boxes to furnish and keep in working order a vast number of boxes and their electrical connections, causes much damage to the interior of the building by the stringing of the multi- 0 plicity of wires, and, what is more serious still, greatly increases the danger of fire Within the building by theliability of some one of the numerous wires leading therefrom to make a contact with an electric-light wire or other 3 5 wire carrying a current of high tension.

It is the object of our invention to provide a system wherebya single centrally-located call-box can be conveniently made to serve the purposes of all of the occupants of abuild- 4o ing or of a floor thereof, and thus avoid the expense and dangers incident to placing a box in each apartment.

To this end our invention consists in the combination, with a call-box so located as to be accessible to the occupants of more than one apartment, of an indicator capable of being set to indicate the number or other designation of the apartment in which the services of the messenger are required, as hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In. the accompanying drawing we have illustrated by a single front view one of the many ways in which our invention can be put in practice.

'The letter a designates the common form of call-box, by turning and releasing the crank of which a call is transmitted to the central office for the services of a messenger, and b designates an indicator, which, as shown, consists of'a dial containing a series of numbers corresponding to the numbers of the roomsin a building or upon a single floor thereof and a pointer 2, capable of being turned'by hand to designate either of said series of numbers. 6 5 We also prefer to arrange a second series'of numbers, corresponding to those of the first series, upon said dial, the numbers in said second series being normally concealed from view by pivoted covers 3, but either of which 7o covers can be manually moved to expose the number beneath it, when desired.

The call-box and indicator will be located at some central point in the building where ac cess thereto can be conveniently had by the 00- cupants of all of the apartments designated on the indicator, the same being suitably secured to the wall or other convenient support.

As herein shown, the call-box and indicator are mounted upon a fancifully-shaped board c, which board is adapted'to be secured to the wall by screws or otherwise and gives a pleasing appearance to the apparatus. Said board is also shown as being provided with a writing shelf or desk 01 and a double pocket e for holding telegraph or other blanks and for holding the written order, telegram; or other message to be taken by the messenger when he answers the call. The apparatusbeing thus located at some central point in 0 the building, whenever one of the occupants of any of the apartments for which it is designed desires to call a messenger he goes to the call-box and turns in the call in theusual manner, turns the pointer 2 to the proper po- 5 sition to indicate the number of his apartment, and goes back to the latter. When the messenger arrives in response to the call, he goes to the indicator, observes the number of the apartment indicated, turns the pointer back to zero, and then goes to the apartmentat which his services are desired. In the meantime if the occupants of any of the other apartments wish to call a messenger they utilize the second series of numbers on the dial and expose the number of their apartment by turning aside the cover 3 over the same, and as fast as the messengers arrive they turn back the covers over the numbers of the rooms to which they go. If the service of the messenger is required for the delivery of a telegram or letter, it can be left in the pocket marked Orders, and thus avoid the necessity of having the messenger come to the room at all. A single call-box is thus caused to conveniently serve the purposes of all of the rooms or apartments of a building or of a single fioor thereof, thereby effecting an immense saving in labor and materials to the company furnishing the boxes and reducing the chances of fire from the wires leading to and from the building to a minimum.

It is obvious that various forms of indicators can be used in connection with the callbox within the spirit of our invention, it being essential merely that it shall be capable of indicating to the messenger the particular room or apartment in which his services are required. For example, a simple board provided with a series of holes numbered to correspond with the rooms and having a number of pegs to be inserted in said holes when the calls are turned in would answer the same purpose as the form of indicator herein shown.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In amessenger-call system for buildings, the combination, with a call-box centrally located with respect to the rooms of a building or those upon a single floor thereof and electrically connected with a central station, of an indicator located adjacent to said call-box and adapted to be set to designate either of said rooms, substantially asand for the purpose described.

2. In a messenger-call system for buildings, the combination, with a single call-box centrally located with respect to a series of rooms or apartments of a building and electrically connected with a central station, of an indicator located adjacent to said call-box, said indicator comprising a dial having thereon a series of numbers corresponding to those of said rooms and a pointer adapted to be moved to designate either of the numbers of said series, and having a second series of numbers corresponding to those of the first series, and means, as the pivoted covers shown and described, whereby either of the numbers composing said second series can be exposed to view, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

FRANK H. FULLER. CHARLES E. PERKINS. WVitnesses:

W. H. CHAPMAN, J. E. CHAPMAN. 

